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College
Democrats of America Elect Smith Grad as National President
The
following is a press release from the .
Lauren
Wolfe ’05 at the Democratic National Convention
in Boston, 2004 |
ST. LOUIS
– At the annual College Democrats of America Convention,
the College Democrats of America elected Smith College graduate
Lauren Wolfe (’05) as the President of the national organization.
Over 450 students
from across the country came together in St. Louis to listen
to speakers, attend campaign trainings and elect their new
officers. Wolfe was elected with her running mate, Awais Khaleel
of Wisconsin.
Lauren Wolfe became
President of the in the fall of 2003. In that position,
she increased the organization’s budget and membership
tenfold.
Lauren built an
email list of more than 1,000 students -- over one-third of
the college’s student body -- and developed innovative
speaker and campaign programs on campus. Under Lauren’s
leadership, the Smith Democrats recruited new members through
a food drive, raised a record amount of money through a Western
Massachusetts College Democrats date auction, and organized
a conference to connect students and influential Democratic
Party leaders. At the 2004 CDA Convention, the national organization
recognized Lauren’s achievements by naming Smith College
its “Chapter of the Year.”
While serving
as President of the Smith College Democrats, Lauren had an
opportunity to meet and work closely with other chapters across
the state of Massachusetts. In the spring of 2004, Lauren
was unanimously elected President of the College Democrats
of Massachusetts (CDM). In that role, Lauren helped organize
the 2004 CDA National Convention in Boston and she transformed
CDM from a loose organization of less than ten schools to
one of the largest state federations in the country. Lauren
also coordinated the nation’s largest College Democrats
campaign invasion in 2004, sending more than 1,000 volunteers
to New Hampshire to volunteer for the Kerry-Edwards campaign
the weekend before the election.
In 2004, Lauren
was also elected chair of the National Council, CDA’s
body of state federation officers. In that role, Lauren served
as a member of the CDA Executive Board and as a liaison between
the DNC and state federations across the country. Under Lauren’s
leadership, the National Council grew to include members from
all 50 states for the first time. Lauren also provided resources
to state federations on behalf of CDA and coordinated the
first-ever CDA state federation leadership retreat at the
2005 National Convention.
In addition to
her experience with CDA, Lauren has interned with the DNC,
NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Oakland County Democratic Party,
Dean for America and Senator Carl Levin. She has also served
on Smith’s student government, participated at the Goldman
Sachs Global Leadership Institute, and spent the last year
teaching English in Zwickau, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship.
In the fall, Lauren will return to her home state of Michigan
to study law at the University of Detroit Mercy.
The College Democrats
of America is the official student outreach arm of the Democratic
Party. In 2004, CDA recruited activists on more than 1,200
campuses in all 50 states.
Lauren Wolfe,
a West Bloomfield, Michigan native, is the first female President
of the College Democrats of America in six years.
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